Read Online A Killing at Cotton Hill by Terry Shames - Free Book Online

you this. Did a woman by the name of Dora Lee Parjeter come to your shop maybe two weeks ago?”
    â€œIf she did, she didn’t introduce herself. Like I said, that’s an unusual name and I would have remembered it.”
    My last resort is to go through Dora Lee’s phone bills to see if I can come up with a number. I find the bills from the past few months, but they contain nothing but local calls. If Dora Lee talked to Caroline, it was an incoming call.
    I’ve put way too much time into finding Caroline. There are other relatives to notify. Dora Lee had a sister several years younger who moved to Virginia a long time ago. I call her and she’s upset, but says there’s no way she can make it back for the funeral. She gets the name of the funeral home and says she’ll send some flowers. Dora Lee has some distant cousins around the county, and I call one of them and ask her to notify the others. She’s a practical woman, who says she’ll wait until she knows exactly when the funeral will be, then make the calls.
    Greg’s aunt on his dad’s side, Patsy Raymond, lives way down in Harlingen, so I figure I’d better let her know pretty quickly, so if she and her family want to come for the funeral they’ll be able to arrange the trip.
    â€œThis is Patsy. Praise the Lord. How can I help you?” There’s a TV blaring in the background and I can hear someone say, “Who is it?”
    â€œPatsy, you don’t know me, but I’m a friend of Dora Lee Parjeter.”
    â€œHold on a minute, please. Mamma, it’s a friend of Dora Lee’s. Now let me talk. Sorry about that. How’s Dora Lee?”
    â€œI’m afraid I have some bad news. Dora Lee was found dead yesterday.”
    â€œOh, but that’s not bad news! That’s good news. She’s with Jesus! What could be better than that?”
    I can think of a few things that would be better, but I don’t think Patsy’s up for a serious discussion. “Well, I thought you’d want to know. I think the funeral will be Sunday.”
    â€œPlease don’t tell me that. My family will want to be there and we don’t travel on the Lord’s day.”
    â€œI see. Well, it’s not decided yet. I’m sure Monday will work as well. I’ll call you back when I know for sure.”
    â€œHow’s my nephew holding up? Is he there? Can I talk to him?”
    I tell her that Greg is off on an errand, but that I’ll have him get in touch. I can’t wait to get off the phone. I think what a nightmare it would have been for a kid who wanted to concentrate on his art to be thrown into the care of someone like Patsy.
    It’s time to roust Greg. I’m just rounding the corner to his cabin when Reverend Duckworth comes down the back steps. I shake his sweaty hand and he oozes platitudes on me. Thankfully, I hear the phone ring inside and Loretta calling out to me.
    Loretta opens the back door. “Where have you got to? Somebody’s on the phone asking for you.”
    â€œWho is it?” I climb the porch stairs with a hitch in my step. After being up so late last night, my knee is giving me fits.
    â€œI don’t recognize the voice. It’s a man.”
    I go into the spare room to take the call.
    â€œSamuel? This is Johnny Taylor over at the county morgue.”
    â€œJohnny, I thought you’d be long retired.”
    â€œThey can’t get me off the horse,” he says. He laughs. I’ve always wondered how somebody who works with dead bodies all the time can be so cheerful. “I’m just part-time here now. My girl told me you were working with Rodell. What’s that all about?”
    â€œIt was a bald-faced lie,” I tell him. He laughs again. I’ve known him since I was chief of police. He knows exactly what Rodell is like. “I’m just nosy. Dora Lee was a friend of mine. I’m trying to get some idea of what